- Edward Oldcorne
-
Edward Oldcorne 
Edward Oldcorne and Nicholas Owen engravingBorn 1561
YorkDied 7 April 1606
Red Hill, WorcesterCause of death Hanged, drawn and quartered Nationality English Occupation Jesuit priest Religion Roman Catholic Parents John and Mary Oldcorne Blessed Edward Oldcorne or Oldcorn alias Hall (b. 1561; executed 7 April 1606 at Red Hill, Worcester) was an English Jesuit priest. He was known to people who knew of the Gunpowder Plot to destroy the Parliament of England and kill King James I, and, although his involvement is unclear, he was caught up in the subsequent investigation. He is a Catholic martyr, and was beatified in 1929.
Contents
Early life
Oldcorne was born in York in 1561, the son of John Oldcorne, a bricklayer, and his wife Mary.[1] His father was a Protestant, and his mother a Catholic who had spent some time in prison due to her faith. He was educated at St Peter's School in York; school friends were John and Christopher Wright and Guy Fawkes .[2]
Oldcorne was educated as a doctor, but later decided to enter the priesthood. He went to the English College at Reims, then to Rome, where, after ordination, in 1587, he became a Jesuit in 1588.[3]
Next year he returned to England in the company of John Gerard. He worked chiefly in Worcestershire for seventeen years. He sometimes stayed with Thomas Abington, whose house at Hindlip Hall was adapted by Nicholas Owen to help conceal Catholic priests.[4] Abington's wife Mary was the sister of William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle;[1] Lord Monteagle was later to become a pivotal figure in the capture of the gunpowder plotters.[1]
From 1601 to 1605
On 3 November 1601, Oldcorne went on a pilgrimage to St Winefride's Well at Holywell in north Wales to obtain a cure for a cancer of the throat. The cancer cleared up and in 1605 about thirty people returned with him to give thanks for his recovery. Amongst this group were the priests Oswald Tesimond, Ralph Ashley, and Henry Garnet, as well as Nicholas Owen and John Gerard .
Also in the group was plotter Everard Digby and his wife, whose priest was Oldcorne. The timing of this second pilgrimage and the people involved later aroused suspicion. The government investigation used this gathering as circumstantial evidence to implicate some of those there in the plot.[1]
After the Plot
When the Gunpowder Plot was discovered, as a result of Lord Monteagle's letter, Oldcorne was at Hindlip Hall as this had been his base for fourteen years. The authorship of Monteagle's letter has been a significant problem to historians. One of the suspects put forward is Edward Oldcorne.[5] Oldcorne recounted later under interrogation that on the 8 November 1605 there arrived Tesimond from Robert Wintour's who told Mr (H)Abington and himself that "he brought them the worst news that they had ever heard, and they were all undone." Tesimond said that certain people had intended to blow up the parliament house but they had been discovered a few days before.[6]
In December, he was joined by Nicholas Owen, Garnet and Ashley who were hiding because they were under suspicion of involvement. Hindlip was searched in January but the four were not discovered, even though Garnet and Oldcorne were in one hiding place whilst the two lay brothers were in another. Their conditions were poor, and after eight days they surrendered.[1] It has been said that Bromley would have abandoned his search much earlier but he had information from Humphrey Littleton that Oldcorne and possibly Garnet were hiding there.[7]
Holt Castle (in 2008), where Oldcorne was briefly held
Oldcorne was arrested with Henry Garnet[3] by Sir Henry Bromley and held briefly at the castle at Holt in Worcestershire before being taken to the Tower of London.
Despite torture being applied to Oldcorne, no evidence was found to connect him to the Gunpowder Plot. Some believe that he was executed just for his priesthood.[3] Others suppose that it may have been because he was notorious or because he had provided safe refuge through Father Jones for the plotters, Robert Wintour and Stephen Littleton for providing a hiding place for his superior Henry Garnet at Hindlip.[5] At his trial, Humphrey Littleton asked for his forgiveness and it was said that he believed he deserved to die for revealing his friend's whereabouts.[7] Two letters of his are at Stonyhurst, the second written from prison. On the day before his execution John Floyd, a fellow Jesuit, was arrested for trying to visit him.[8]
Oldcorne was executed at Red Hill, together with John Wintour, Humphrey Littleton and Ralph Ashley.[2] He was accompanied at his execution by Ashley, his servant. It is said that, as Oldcorne waited on the ladder to die, Ashley kissed his feet and said, "What a happy man am I to follow in the steps of my sweet father". Oldcorne died with the name of St Winifred on his lips.[1] When Ashley came to die he prayed and asked for forgiveness and noted that like Oldcorne he was dying for his religion and not for being a traitor. Oldcorne's portrait, painted after his death for the Gesù (This may mean the Society of Jesus), survived, as well as a number of his relics.[3] A particularly grisly relic is one of his eyes[9] which he lost when the executioner decapitated him: it is said that the force of the blow was so great that his eye flew out of its socket.[10] There is a secondary school, Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, named in his honour, in Worcester.[11]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Lives of the Saints By Alban Butler, Peter Doyle, ISBN 0860122530
- ^ a b Gunpowder-plot.org accessed 6 July 2008
- ^ a b c d Venerable Edward Oldcorne in the Catholic Encyclopedia, in Wikisource, accessed 4 July 2008
- ^ 'Parishes: Hindlip', A History of the County of Worcester: volume 3 (1913), pp. 398-401. Date accessed: 06 July 2008.
- ^ a b The Gunpowder Plot and Lord Mounteagle's letter, By Henry Hawkes Spinks, Jr.
- ^ Criminal Trials by David Jardine, 1846, accessed 6 July 2008
- ^ a b Humphrey Littleton, Gunpowder-plot.org accessed 7 July 2008
- ^ ilab.org accessed 4 July 2008
- ^ St. Xavier's church in Liverpool, list of items on display, accessed 7 July 2008
- ^ Catholic report on Lancashire relics
- ^ Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, accessed 4 July 2008
Categories:- 1561 births
- 1606 deaths
- 16th-century English people
- 17th-century English people
- English Jesuits
- 16th-century Jesuits
- 17th-century Jesuits
- Beatified people
- Executed Gunpowder Plotters
- Martyred Roman Catholic priests
- Clergy of the Tudor period
- People executed under the Tudors
- People executed by hanging, drawing and quartering
- Executed English people
- 17th-century Roman Catholic martyrs
- 17th-century venerated Christians
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